Soho's AI-led noise crackdown

Dear Londoners — we hope you made ample use of Saturday's sunshine (lambrusco in the park, anyone?), and that yesterday's grim skies and occasional mizzle didn't give you too bad a case of the Sunday scaries.

What is scary, though, is Westminster council's new noise-detecting AI project, which nightlife venues across the West End fear will be used to crack-down on late licenses — the latest battle in the war between local residents and the capital's premier party district. We go deep on this below, along with your usual collection of London’s biggest stories — and, of course, your must-have guide to the capital's best spots to eat, drink and hang out.

But before we do, a big thank you to everybody who's supported us as a paying subscriber recently; we really couldn't do it without you. And if you haven't already signed up, we're still running our 20% introductory subscriber offer — but hurry, it's ending soon...

Introducing... The Londoner gossip box

The time has finally come: the launch of our brand-new Londoner gossip box. We want your secrets, and we want want them piping hot: the horrible boss at the bar you work at, the beef brewing at your law firm, the spat in the WhatsApp group for your kids' school. Click the link below to divulge. And, as always, what you tell us is strictly confidential!

Big story: Why is the council using AI to detect excess noise in Soho? 

Topline: AI-powered CCTV cameras designed to automatically detect excessive noise are being deployed across the borough of Westminster — including across some of London’s most iconic nightlife spots.

Context: The audio from a new network of around 200 cameras across areas including Soho, Leicester Square and Mayfair will be fed into a real-time AI monitoring programme that detects any time sound exceeds predefined council limits, as part of a scheme uncovered by London Spy.

Why is this happening?: The council claims the move will help crack down on “antisocial behaviour” across central London. But businesses and nightlife operators fear the move is attempting to sanitise the capital’s nightlife and will lead to even more licensing restrictions. The new AI cameras, they argue, would force venues to permanently ensure that they (or their departing patrons) do not produce even the slightest amount of excess noise, even in areas famed for their late-night culture like the West End.

What does this mean for nightlife?: In February, The Londoner reported how councils are shutting or limiting the opening hours on dozens of the capital’s pubs as a result of often baseless noise complaints, including potential honking from traffic. The addition of the new cameras could place yet another licensing burden on struggling pubs, bars and clubs to adhere to increasingly strict rules governing noise. 

The move comes after a series of controversial licensing decisions by Westminster Council, including imposing restrictions on the Globe in Baker Street after a single neighbour complained of “faint giggles”. The council’s new After Dark strategy, which we covered earlier this month, has also been criticised for its lack of concrete support for struggling pubs, clubs and bars. It did, however, include a series of controversial recommendations for Central London nightlife spots, including that they host "'quiet nights' with reduced noise levels, dimmed lighting and designated calm zones”. 

The new facial recognition?: The move is just the latest in a rising wave of automated observation in the capital. A roll-out of permanent facial recognition cameras by the Met has also begun in Croydon, with a view to moving the programme city-wide, despite concerns from campaigners and an ongoing legal action surrounding its accuracy and efficacy.

Your news briefing

🚇 A coalition of four London councils — Brent, Lewisham, Southwark and Westminster — have called for government funding for a proposed new Bakerloo Line extension to Lewisham. Currently, the project has a safeguarded route via Old Kent Road, Burgess Park and New Cross Gate, but no secure funding. The Back the Bakerloo campaign also promises that the programme would see major upgrades to Bakerloo Line infrastructure that could see trains running every two minutes.

🚖 London’s iconic black cabs could be extinct within the next 20 years, according to a new report by the Centre for London think tank. The number of licences for black cabs have dropped by a third in the last decade, thanks to the rising costs of purchasing and operating a vehicle, changes in Londoners’ working patterns and the continuing rise in private hire alternatives like Uber. 

🍞 A civil war has broken out in North London over the arrival of the buzzy Dusty Knuckle bakery, reports the Guardian. The week before last, the phrase “GENTRIFRYERS-EW-SHIT BREAD” was scrawled on the front of the Dalston-based bakery’s second outlet in Haringey. The saga has ignited a debate over community responsibility: while the bakery’s vaunted (and social-media-friendly) sandwiches are far from cheap, they also work with vulnerable youth in the area and have a prison-rehabilitation scheme. 

🏠 Last week, the London Standard released a profile on new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, focused on the “down to earth” north-west London enclave he decided to make his home when he ran the Bank of England. The “distinctly unflashy pocket” of London in question? South Hampstead, where the average house sells for over £1m… 

Let us know

Have you worked in fine dining in the capital? We're currently working on a story about the industry, and we'd love your help. If that sounds like you, get in touch at editor@the-londoner.co.uk.

If you missed it…

At the weekend, Andrew took a trip to a terrifying, post-apocalyptic version of the capital, with a piece about the wildly successful videogame mod Fallout London. It's the inside story of how a group of volunteers with no funding and no training outdid some of the world's biggest game studios, with a little help from former Commons speaker John Bercow.

Wining and dining

With endless offerings and non-stop openings, we all know that deciding where to eat and drink in the capital can be fraught. We want to make it easy — so every week we’ll give you our insider guide to the city’s best spots. 

One perfect meal: 

Over the past few years, Georgian food has been seeping into the collective awareness of Londoners. However, despite an increased number of London DJs flying out to Tbilisi for gigs, our beloved capital still isn’t a hotspot for Caucasian cuisine and the availability of khinkali (a kind of Georgian xiao long bao) is still far below what it should be. Luckily, Tbilisi Restaurant on Holloway Road is there to satisfy that craving.

One of London’s oldest Georgian restaurants, Tbilisi has been serving up dishes like khachapuri (a cheese-stuffed flat bread) and chashushuli (a spicy, tomato-y beef stew) for well over a decade now. The decor is pleasingly old-school, a time-warp from the early 2010s with a regional twist: leatherette seas, patterned wallpaper, ornate mahogany furniture. As any decent oenophile knows, wine originally hails from Georgia, where they still use unique production methods that set their plonk apart from their Western European competitors — and here you can actually buy a bottle of saperavi without bankrupting yourself. Foodwise, the options are better value than most other Georgian restaurants in London, and unfailingly good, with the lobiani, a kind of bean stew, a standpoint. 

One perfect drink:

The sun shining bright and high in the sky, the scent of blossom wafting on the breeze… While not every day in March has offered perfect weather, we’re inching closer and closer to a true London spring. And that means one thing: a beer garden. On days like these, it’s best to stick to the classics — and it’s hard to find anywhere better than the Captain Kidd in Wapping. Its outside space is fairly extensive by London standards, meaning there’s a good chance you and a group of friends might be able to nab a table. And as a Sam Smith’s pub, the pints are comfortingly familiar, although the price has been steadily increasing in the past few years (nearly £7 for a pint of Taddy lager — for shame!). 

But the real beauty of the Captain Kidd is its location, snug on the bank of Thames. For a city based on a river, it’s strange how rare it is to be in such close contact with the water — to see its daily workings, its passenger boats and rubbish barges and police patrols; to simply watch as it shifts in and out, glittering in the light. It’s easy to spend a whole day here, pint in hand, letting the nearby chatter of birthday parties and tourist groups and Wapping locals wash over you like the tide, and to do so feels something akin to bliss.

Our favourite reads

How restaurant hype happens: a tale told through booking data — Clara Murray, FT

Have you ever wondered how restaurant hype actually works? We assume that online influencers are largely responsible for the queues we see continually spilling around the block for buzzy new joints — but the truth, it turns out, is slightly more complex. For the FT, Clara Murray had a snoop around the booking data of some of the capital’s most talked-about spots.

Ravers, Rastas and rugby league stars: why the story of Black British culture is about more than just London — Lanre Bakare, Guardian

“While [Brixton] was a centre of Black culture and resistance, it wasn’t the only one – there were dozens around the UK, like in Liverpool, which had a different, older connection to the unrest.” Writing for the Guardian, Lanre Bakare has a great piece about Black British identity and how, despite often being spoken about in London-specific terms, there’s a rich history of resistance and culture extends far beyond the reaches of the capital. 

To Do List

🖌️ It’s been a big fortnight for 10Foot, one of Britain’s most notorious graffiti artists. Last week, the Big Issue announced a 10Foot takeover issue, featuring contributions from Banksy, rap group Kneecap, mystic Alan Moore and Oscar-nominated composer, Mika Levi. A few days later, queues started amassing across Piccadilly Circus for Long Dark Tunnel, a pop-up exhibition by 10Foot, along with artists Tox and Fume. The exhibition ends on 13 April.  

🌈 Don’t miss your chance to see the offerings on show at BFI Flare, the UK’s festival of queer cinema, before it ends on 30 March. Sadly, tickets to the closing night party are sold out, but you can still grab tickets to number of screenings and events — our picks include Departures, a comedy-drama about a toxic relationship, and If I Die, It'll Be of Joy, a documentary about the lives of a group of queer elders.

From the archive

Few things embody popular imaginings of London’s swinging sixties better than this footage of secretary Angela McWilliams, clad in a fur coat and leather boots, walking a leopard called Michael down what looks like Gloucester Road. “The canines aren’t sure if he’s a dog or not,” the voiceover reads as McWilliams pulls her feline through the park, “but Michael does his best to be friendly.”